How to Clear Clipboard History on Mac

Whether you just copied a sensitive password, a client financial statement, or an API access key, you often need to ensure that data is completely purged from your Mac’s memory.

Here is the exact terminal command to wipe the native macOS clipboard immediately, plus how to manage privacy if you use a clipboard manager.

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The Instant Mac Terminal Command

To completely clear your active Mac clipboard without restarting your computer, run this native command in the Terminal app:

pbcopy < /dev/null

How it works:

• pbcopy is Apple’s built-in command-line tool that interfaces directly with the macOS pasteboard.
• < /dev/null redirects a null (empty) input stream into pbcopy.
• As soon as you hit Return, your clipboard is emptied. If you press ⌘V, nothing will paste.

Alternatively, you can copy an empty space by running:

echo "" | pbcopy

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How macOS Native Clipboard Works

Many users wonder if macOS secretly stores a history of everything copied.

• The Reality: Standard macOS has no persistent clipboard history. It only retains the single last item you copied in volatile system memory (RAM).
• Finder Clipboard Viewer: If you open Finder and go to Edit → Show Clipboard, you will only see the current active clip.
• Once you reboot your Mac or run pbcopy < /dev/null, that single item is gone forever.

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How to Clear History in a Clipboard Manager (ClipBuddy)

If you use a clipboard manager like ClipBuddy, your copies are saved into an on-device local database so you can find them later. When you need to protect sensitive information, ClipBuddy offers five robust privacy controls:

1. Delete Clips, or Clear by Type

Delete a single clip any time with ⌘⌫ in the picker (⌘Z brings it back for a moment). With Pro, Settings, Storage has a Clear button for each type of clip that permanently deletes every unpinned clip of that type; pinned clips are kept. You can also keep clips for a set number of days (1 to 3,650), cap how many clips or how much storage they use, and turn on Clear history when the screen locks (off by default).

2. Pause Capture on Demand

If you are about to do banking, review proprietary documents, or manage sensitive server keys, right-click the ClipBuddy menu bar icon and choose Pause Capture. You can pause recording for:

• 15 or 30 minutes
• 1, 3, or 8 hours
• Until manually resumed

While paused, ClipBuddy completely stops listening to the macOS pasteboard.

3. Burn-After-Paste Clips (Pro)

ClipBuddy lets you mark any specific clip as Burn-after-paste. The moment you paste the clip into your destination application, ClipBuddy automatically self-destructs and erases it from your history.

4. Automatic Password & Secret Shield

By default, ClipBuddy automatically respects the org.nspasteboard.ConcealedType marker. When you copy a credential from 1Password, Bitwarden, or Apple Keychain, ClipBuddy never saves it. It does not enter your history in the first place.

5. Touch ID Vault for Credentials

With ClipBuddy Pro’s optional Detect & Vault Secrets feature, any recognized API key, private key, or payment card is kept in the Vault, protected by Touch ID and a Keychain key that uses the Secure Enclave when your Mac has one. Vault items never appear in search, and a secret you paste from the Vault is cleared from the clipboard after 60 seconds.

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